Deohako

The Seneca were successful hunters and gatherers, but they were especially famed for their horticulture. Up until colonial times, Seneca cultivators were primarily women, and the plant world was associated with their aspect of life. Central to Seneca material and spiritual well-being were corn, beans, and squash, known as the Three Sisters, which the Seneca believe sustain human life. The ceremonial year was heavily associated with their growth and harvest, and planting time and two harvests of corn were celebrated with great enthusiasm among traditional Seneca. During the Denonville Campaign of 1687, huge stores of corn and beans were discovered in the picketed granary on Fort Hill, and Denonville estimated that his soldiers destroyed over 440,000 bushels of old and new corn that summer in the four major Seneca towns.

Victor, New York · United States